The Leader
The Leader (real name Samuel Sterns) is a supervillain and the archenemy of Hulk. Biography Origin Samuel Sterns was a worker in a chemical plant in a menial capacity until an accident working with radioactive material bombarded him with gamma radiation, turning his skin green and making his head grow, resulting in him developing enhanced intellect and brain power, opposing the Hulk's enhanced overall strength and physical power. He became the one who men call "The Leader". Due to his thirst for power he has become obsessed with destroying Hulk. Doorway to Destruction, Part 1 It was revealed that he was the one who supplied the mind-control technology to Annihilus. Doorway to Destruction, Part 2 It is revealed that the Leader had planted Skaar on the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. to learn about them in exchange that Leader tells Skaar about his past. Hulk-Busted Leader hijacks the Hulkbuster Armor to fight Hulk's team. The Leader makes himself known on a hologram where he magnetizes the Hulkbusters into one giant Hulkbuster where it captures Iron Man. The Leader uses another hologram stating that he has rigged the giant Hulkbuster to explode and blame the destruction of the city on Iron Man and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. After the giant Hulkbuster was defeated, Hulk is shown to be aware that Leader is using Skaar after viewing the security footage of their base and tells A-Bomb that he has plans to manipulate Skaar into "giving them Leader." The Incredible Shrinking Hulks The Leader uses a shrink ray placed in a miniature golf course section to shrink the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. Leader then contacts the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. where he mentions that he has shrunken them in his plot to crush them like ants. The Leader later arrives where the truth between the Leader's connections with Skaar and Skaar's lost memories is revealed where Leader restores Skaar to normal size. The Leader then attacks the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. whee he states to them that he has promised their destruction. Skaar then makes his choice where he grabs the Leader and goes on the attack enough for the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. to be freed from Leader's mental attack. The Agents of S.M.A.S.H. go on the attack and defeat him. When Skaar states to Leader that Earth is his home, Leader escapes as he charges the shrink ray to go into overdrive to shrink the entire golf course. Into the Negative Zone Leader has Blastaar use special snakes from the Negative Zone in order to petrify the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. Hulk teams up with Thing to enter the Negative Zone in order to find the snakes and get the venom for an antidote. When Hulk ends up captured, Leader revealed that he had been watching Hulk's web show where it was revealed that he confiscated Annihilus' Cosmic Control Rod following his failure, supplied Sauron with the weapons for his plot and tipped off Laufey on where he can find Ymir in exchange that he gains equal control of the world with them. The Leader then places a chip on Hulk so that he can go on a rampage upon being released back on Earth. Hulk manages to break free and beat up Leader. Before Hulk can continue beating up Leader, Thing manages to stop him so that they can get the antidote to the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. After the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. are cured, they find that Hulk has Leader in their cell. A Thing About Machines The Hulks have crashed their S.M.A.S.H. Jumpjet more times than they can count, and it's out for revenge now that the Leader has given it artificial intelligence. Monsters No More The Leader formed the Agents of C.R.A.S.H. (consisting of Abomination, Absorbing Man, Blastaar, Sauron, and Titania) threaten to destroy Vista Verde with "5 gamma bombs" and discredit the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. in which the Agents of C.R.A.S.H. are wearing Adamantium stealth belts in which only the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. could see them. Planet Leader Following the incident caused by the Agents of C.R.A.S.H., the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. get transported to Skaar's home planet Sakaar where they must stop Leader from controlling the entire planet and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. themselves. The Agents of S.M.A.S.H. do make some allies on Sakaar along the way while fighting in the Sakaar arena. Planet Hulk, Part 1 While looking for a way back to Earth, the Hulks discover the Leader stowed away on board the ship. Retribution must wait as the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. have to fight Ronan the Accuser and his Kree soldiers. Planet Hulk, Part 2 The Leader remained imprisoned in the bathroom while the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. worked with Ego the Living Planet to fight with Galactus and his latest herald Firelord. Fear Itself Before the events on Halloween, the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. must face each of their greatest fears in order to stop the Null the Living Darkness from crossing through a wormhole to reap ruin upon Earth. The Leader's worst fear is revealed as losing his vast intelligence. Guardians of the Galaxy The Leader remained imprisoned in the bathroom remained imprisoned as the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. team up with their old friends the Guardians of the Galaxy to stop Super-Skrull and the Skrulls. Future Shock After Leader tricks Skaar into entering a temporal displacement wormhole to Earth, the Hulks return to Earth a thousand years in the future only to discover that the High Evolutionary has turned all humans into Animal Men. A Druff is Enough The Leader still imprisoned in the bathroom had to deal with A-Bomb bringing an alien called Druffs aboard the ship, he puts the team at risk when it starts taking over, jeopardizing the team's only shot at getting back to Earth. Homecoming The Agents of S.M.A.S.H. returns to Earth with Leader still in their possession even though they were blamed for the destruction of Vista Verde following the incident by Leader's Agents of C.R.A.S.H. They find Vista Verde under the rule of Abomination. Spidey, I Blew Up the Dinosaur While being pursued by the military, the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. go after Leader when he steals all the confiscated weapons from their vault. When Devil Dinosaur is enlarged and let loose by Leader, the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. team up with Spider-Man to stop Devil Dinosaur and restore him to normal size while having to deal with Abomination and the Hulkbusters. The Green Room The Agents of S.M.A.S.H. track the Leader to his hideout on the Isle of Lucee. They get stuck in a deadly maze (which Leader improved on Thunderbolt Ross' plans in his earlier fight with Hulk) where Hulk's rage is drained from him, making him mellowed out. After the rest of his teammates are captured, Hulk finds them in Leader's clutches at the center of the maze where Leader uses his machine to manifest Hulk's dark side in the physical form of Dark Hulk. Days of Future Smash, Part 1 - The Dino-Era The Leader has escaped from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Tri-Carrier and has broken into the Latverian Embassy to steal one of the time belts to go back in time. Hulk chases Leader back to the Mesozoic and Hulk battles Leader and his mind-controlled dinosaurs while befriending a young Devil Dinosaur. Back in the present, the rest of the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. experience a timeline where intelligent dinosaurs. Days of Future Smash, Part 2 - Smashguard Hulk follows Leader back in time to the Viking Age where they are apprehended by a young Thor and Loki who accuse them of trying to steal the fragments of the Berserker Staff. When Odin goes into his Odinsleep, Hulk teams up with Thor and Loki to keep Leader from taking the Asgardian throne from Odin. In the present, the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. fight to stop All-Father Leader from taking over the planet with Thor and Loki in his services as well as an army of gamma-powered Frost Giants. Days of Future Smash, Part 3 - Dracula Hulk follows Leader back in time to 1890 during the Victorian era and unites Frankenstein's Monster, N'Kantu the Living Mummy, and Werewolf by Night's grandfather as the Howling Commandos. They must thwart Leader and Dracula's plan to shroud the Earth with Leader's Gamma Furnace allowing vampires to prey night and day. In the present, the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. deal with the Vampire Lord Hulk who is ruling the vampire-dominated present after he had eliminated Dracula and Leader upon his vampire conversion. Days of Future Smash, Part 4 - Year of the Hydra Chasing Leader through time to World War II, Hulk teams up with a young Captain America to stop Red Skull who becomes Green Skull when enhanced with gamma energy by Leader. In the present, the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. team up with an old Captain America to fight and free the world from Hydra which is led by the Hydra Leader and operating a device that is powered by Green Skull. Days of Future Smash, Part 5 - The Tomorrow Smashers Finally catching up to the Leader in the present, Hulk reunites with the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. as Leader uses the powers of his time belt to summon paradox monsters from the alternate timelines like a Gamma Raptor, a Paradox Sauron, a Vampire Devil Dinosaur, and the Redskullasaurus. During the fight with Leader and the paradox monsters, Hulk is unexpectedly whisked into the future by teenage Smashers consisting of Leader's rebellious son Junior, RJ3, and twin siblings Thad and Betts. The 3rd Generation Smashers need Hulk's help to battle the threats of L.E.A.D.R. (the consciousness of Leader in a robotic supercomputer body whose name is short for Life Extending Artificial Digitized Reality) who plans to replace everyone on Earth with Leader Clones version of themselves while the real humans are placed in the Negative Zone. Planet Monster, Part 1 The Supreme Intelligence leads the Kree armada into invading Earth in retaliation for Ronan the Accuser's incarceration. After Kree soldiers free Ronan the Accuser and Leader, they are brought before the Supreme Intelligence where he absorb's Leader's knowledge. Planet Monster, Part 2 Avengers must work together to free Hulk from the Supreme Intelligence and prevent the destruction of Earth and the cosmos. Personality He is exceedingly confident in his intellect to the point of arrogance. And this is problematic for him. He exudes a maddeningly superior attitude to everyone but himself, and he has a vengeful streak and will stop at nothing to win. Powers and Abilities The Leader has superhuman mental acumen, as a result of his exposure to an explosion of gamma-irradiated waste. He possesses enhanced intuition, pattern solving, information storage and retrieval, and logical and philosophical structuring. His ability to predict probable outcomes of tactical and strategic scenarios is so advanced that it borders on clairvoyance. The Leader has a perfect memory with the ability to recall every moment since the accident that gave him his powers. The Leader possesses an impressive knowledge of genetics, physics, and robotics, and has designed a large number of sophisticated weapons, vehicles, computers, androids, and synthetic humanoids. He is particularly adept at genetic engineering and manipulating radiation for various nefarious purposes. The Leader has a degree of enhanced durability, stamina, and endurance, allowing him to survive being struck by the Hulk and smashed through stone, as he is never visibly injured or damaged in these occurrences. It appears to have also affected his lifespan and longevity, allowing him to have seemingly not age, especially during the events of The Dino-Era and Year of the Hydra, which allowed him to survive being preserved in sap and serving as the Hydra Leader since 1944. Also, while the All-Father, he remained the same ever since the Viking Era. However, his long life was not long enough for him to survive into the future, as shown in The Tomorrow Smashers leading to him transferring his consciousness into L.E.A.D.R.. Telepathy: In addition to his extraordinary intelligence, the Leader has some psionic powers that enable him to mentally control certain individuals (provided they are weak minded). Telekinesis: Psychokinesis, among other telekinetic abilities. Weakness Although the Leader is smart, he lacks strength, only enough to survive being struck by the Hulk. One of the Leader's weaknesses is that he always reveals his plan to the Hulks before it is accomplished because he believes there's nothing they can do to stop it, though he's always wrong. The Leader's biggest weakness is his own reckless arrogance or hubris. Whenever he has his enemies in a bind, his ego and hatred drive him to "push the knife in further" according to Hulk, and that causes his plans to fail. He also isn't very patient and is obviously psychotic. Trivia * The Leader is the 5th smartest person in the world, ahead of M.O.D.O.K. who is 6th and Amadeus Cho is of course 7th. References * http://thedailybugle.wikia.com/wiki/The_Leader Category:Villains Category:Characters Category:Gamma Mutates Category:Agent of C.R.A.S.H. Category:Scientists Category:Time Travellers Category:Leader Category:Main Antagonists